#I think scenes of an American artist could also be remixed

[bsaka7]

16 & 23?

Thank u marthe ILY 🥰🥰🥰🥰

16. What is your most underrated fic?

i mean i only know from people telling me what they think of my stuff/my stats but like. probably Charles and the three curses (chalex) or Charles dragon fic (Charles gen)... Idk. They're both fics I had a LOT of fun with and I think are... Fairly quality???? Or at least interesting. And definitely are more niche. But I think they're good!!!!!!!! I guess I'm saying people need to get more into Charles-centric fantasy come ON!!!!

23. If you had to remix one of your own fics, which would it be and how would you remix it?

Oooh I'm not sure. I feel like ill ray could be interesting from the non-daniel perspectives...especially like Jenson and pierre who we just get little bits of.... So maybe I would do a reverse pov inverse of the fic....

[animusiem]

Billboard USA Exclusion Zone Episode 21 (01/13/2024)

Now that all the Christmas stuff is gone, what do we have to replace all of the Christmas songs? Well seems like we are still stuck with what 2023 had to offered. Regional Mexican, J-Pop, old songs that went viral on TikTok, and some legacy songs just debuted. And yet looking at the chart reset I think showed a bigger picture that I will get to on my blog, stay tuned. Enough stalling let's get into these meaty lists of new arrival

--------------------------------------------------------

49. "Goat" by Number_I

You know the year hasn't even started yet and we might have a contender for the worst song of the year. Like imagine if Fleeting Lullaby by Ado was remixed by a B-tier boyband and the productions sounded like the backwash of Gen 3 boyband group sound...you get this.

51. "Rompe La Dompe" by Peso Pluma, Junior H, Oscar Maydon

This is probably the most well produced Peso Pluma song in corridos scene. I love how chill the song is. Definitely needed after...that car crash the size of opening lap of Belgian GP in 1998 proportion.

64. "Wherever u r" by UMI ft. V from BTS

Seems like V beside making solid RnB album, also want to platform small RnB artist as well. And it's a great song to boot as well. I'm instantly hooked by UMI's voice with the melodic guitar, spacious production, and just immaculate atmosphere which is perfect for the sort of cut about long distance longing. I do think the percussion is a bit loud. But hey it's still a high recommendation

114. "Poco A Poco" by Xavi ft. Los Dareyes de La Sierra

Seems like the train of regional Mexican sound is still rolling because we have a newcomer by the name of Xavi. He's not Spanish by the way he's from Arizona. But, he has been going up on the chart with La Diabla which is a good song. And this one might be better due to the fact that there's a slap bass in it.

132. "Maria Mariah" by Silva MC, DJ F7, C NO BEAT & MC Meno Dani

10/10 would Brazilian funk again.

154. "Modo DND" by Xavi & Tony Aguirre

I feel like the reason why I've been positive with Xavi because in terms of corridos tumbados, his sounds are very full and competently produced for once. I love the horn lines here the most because it's kinda like all over the place.

161. "Murder On The Dancefloor" by Sophie Ellis-Bextor

TikTok strikes again and this time it might be their best find yet. Coming from the Saltburn ending where Barry Keoghan "dancing" to this song, we have quite possible the reason why Future Nostalgia existed in the first place. I'm glad that Americans are listening to this two decades later. The lush nu-disco production that didn't aged a day with the liquid guitar, tight bass, and the strings. Every seconds of this song is just tight and controlled which could be attributed to Gregg Alexander aka the bald guy with the bucket hat from New Radicals. The guitar solo is just an icing on the cake on otherwise fantastic tune.

162. "Husn" by Anuv Jain

Never thought I would hear a song from India like this to be honest. But hey it's a nice surprised to hear this type of sounds in other languages that I am not familiar with.

170. "Overdrive" by Ofenbach ft. Norma Jean Martine

It's kinda cool how dance genre has probably its stronger year in 2023. This is the first one I'm listening to this year and yeah the streak keep on going here. Never have I heard more beautiful piano house since...shit probably Hold My Hand.

172. "Alucin" by Eugenio Esquivel X Grupo Marca Registrada X Sebastian Esquivel

This is probably the best "Edm mixed with regional mexican" song I've heard. Though when your competition is a song by Fuerza Regida featuring Marshmello...yeah

186. "Let Me Love You" by DJ Snake ft. Justin Bieber

Not gonna lie, the sound of DJ Snake just didn't hold up so well with time. This song in 2024 sounds so empty and devoid of anything interesting.

190. "Have You Ever Seen The Rain" by Creedence Clearwater Revival

Meanwhile this song is timeless and could be played at any time where you are feeling down or just sick of the bullshit get thrown at you.

191. "Livin On A Prayer" by Bon Jovi

Just listening to this one song and you will get why hair metal was at one point the biggest genre in the world in the mid 80s.

193. "Poker Face" by Lady Gaga

Meanwhile just listened to this song and you'll get why Lady Gaga is an icon and deserved her acolades.

197. "Be A Flower" by Ryokuoushoku Shakai

Wait so this is the song that became an opening for an anime about ancient China? Why does this bang so hard????

199. "One Dance" by Drake ft. Wizkid & Nyla

One Dance is a good song but this song marked the exact point where Drake stopped trying most of the times because his status as #1 hit makers has been sealed.

200. "Lean On" by Major Lazer ft. DJ Snake & MO

It's a good even great EDM song but it's pale in comparison to its competition at that time.

I highly recommend everyone listening to these songs

[track-five]

Thoughts on the tour cancellation? I’m so torn because as an American fan, I know I don’t have the right to speak for Asian Louies and it’s okay for them to be angry and upset. They’ve been waiting 8 years and once again they get the short end of the stick. At the same time I don’t think it’s Louis’ fault at all. He was so excited to tour Asia. I think his team has handled this in the worst way possible (what’s new🙄) but I don’t think he deserves to be slammed like he has been. Asian fans didn’t deserve to hear it from live nation or Twitter update accounts. His team 1000% should have and still should put out a statement. There’s no way they didn’t know a couple days in advance. I do find it incredibly strange that the only news we’ve heard from Louis or his team is a measly paragraph tweet apologizing. The difference from him breaking his arm and posting x rays and a notes app apology because he had to cancel a few signings and one show, to canceling an entire leg of tour and only writing a couple sentences is super weird and leads me to believe he can’t say anything else. The whole situation is messed up and I hope he’s okay.

oh boy ok i haven’t been tracking this closely today, so if anything new happened that i missed i could be completely off here…

i really feel for all of the fans in asia because they get the short end of the stick too often :( this is giving “harry cancelling his chicago show day-of via ticketmaster” and i’m really not sure what to think. shit happens sometimes, and we have to accept the disappointment knowing the decision is probably what was best for the person we care about. i believe harry didn’t owe us any explanation even though we wanted one, but hshq absolutely did owe us an announcement (and honestly an apology…both of which we didn’t get, but LA did!). i feel the same about louis.

we are never owed a look into harry or louis’ personal lives, but louis is so adamant that there’s a symbiotic relationship between himself and the fans…so the way this is being handled is very odd and makes me think something very personal is going on. i don’t blame louis for the response, but i’m inclined to blame his team.

as we’ve seen time and time again louis is in charge of a lot, but he has people working for him behind the scenes. he’s not the kind of guy to get every tweet pre-approved by a pr team, but i have a feeling he’s not in charge of the response here. even if he is, lthq still should have been the ones to announce it.

performing is his passion, but it’s also his job. regardless of how fun his shows are and how close we feel to him there, it’s essentially a transactional experience. his team knows this. it’s disappointing if your friend backs out of a coffee date with no explanation, but there are no stakes. if an artist backs out of shows, there was time and money invested on many fronts. when his team spends so much time pushing genuineness and transparency on us through aotv, it’s strange that all we have is a remix of every other apology tweet over the years. they absolutely dropped the ball on this one, and i feel so bad for him for the backlash he’s getting.

we are never owed an explanation, but we are owed the courtesy of hearing it directly from the artist (aka their team). that’s the bare minimum in my opinion. my guess is there’s something going on with louis. if there’s something serious he’s dealing with, the burden of making this difficult announcement (and blame for its inadequacy) should absolutely not fall on him, but on lthq and lthq only. there’s obviously a lot of nuance to decisions like this, so it’s hard to assign blame when we truly have no idea. i hope he’s alright, and my heart goes out to the fans whose shows were cancelled.

[calamitydaze]

Hello! Happy June! It's Pride and I have another question (3/30)

Today's piece of history comes in the form of a film/documentary recommendation of "Paris Is Burning".

"Paris Is Burning" was released in 1990 and it provides a snapshot of New York City in the 1980's through the eyes of the city's African American and Latinx Harlem drag and ball scene. The title itself refers to an annual ball held by the artist Paris Dupree, who is featured in the film, and the film explores the elaborately structured ball competitions, where the contestants are judged on their dance talent, the beauty of their clothes and their ability to adhere to the categories.

The focus is on rival fashion "houses" (a term coined by legend Crystal LaBeija, and her successor of the Head of the House of LaBeija, Pepper LaBeija, is featured prominently in this film), showing us their competitions, the House "Mothers" and the experiences of being both queer and POC during the AIDs crisis.

It features legendary voguers, drag queens, and trans women of colour - the main figures and fights for queer rights, and people that we, and especially US Americans, owe a lot to.

I think this film is a great starting point for an introduction to the people who helped build both the ball scene and the drag scene to the absolutely phenomenal standard it is today. It's also just ICONIC.

As for my question, something that is talked about a lot in this film is the ability to/act of "throwing shade" and the skill of "reading", both of which are terms coined by the black queer community and refer to subtle and/or clever ways of insulting or conveying disgust with someone or thing. So, and this is only tangentially related, what was your favourite line from Larray and Issa's "Cancelled Remix"?

(yeah, yeah, not as related as usual, however, I wanted everyone to be able to answer at least one question because my other question is:)

Have you seen this film? And if so, what did you think of it? (if you haven't seen it and end up watching it from this ask, please tell me what you think!! xx)

Happy Pride 🌈 🎉

i could not REMOTELY have guessed what the question was going to be based on that leadup LMAOOO but my favorite is definitely “colors fucked up in the head bitch is this green or red” so out of pocket but legit the funniest line in the whole thing

and i actually have seen paris is burning! i watched it for an anthropology class a few years ago and i thought it was amazing, i loved having that window into the past and seeing a culture that i’m sorry to say i knew nothing about before, i really think everyone should watch it

[heirofmisfortune]

is there a list of all the collaborations fall out boy has done because if not i think the world deserves that

i'm not sure about a list that already exists but i will make one here!! sounds fun ! so here is

Probably Close To Every Fall Out Boy Collaboration and Feature (So Far)

on tttyg

Chicago Is So Two Years Ago features backing vocals from Justin Pierre of Motion City Soundtrack

Grenade Jumper features background vocals from Jeff Warren of Knockout

Reinventing the Wheel to Run Myself Over features De'Mar Hamilton of Plain White T's (the little yell and laugh at the end lol)

on futct

7 Minutes In Heaven features Brendon Urie obviously of Panic! at the Disco on backing vocals

Sophomore Slump or Comeback of the Year features William Beckett of The Academy Is... on backing vocals

on ioh

Thriller features Jay-Z in the beginning and end of the song

"The Take Over The Break's Over" features a guitar solo from Ryan Ross obviously of Panic! at the Disco and another from Chad Gilbert of New Found Glory

on folie

okay What a Catch, Donnie- in order this song features Elvis Costello, Gabe Saporta of Cobra Starship, Travie McCoy of Gym Class Heroes, Brendon Urie, Doug Neumann (general manager for Crush Management), Alexander DeLeon of The Cab, and William Beckett

Tiffany Blews features the bridge from Lil Wayne and additional vocals from Alexander DeLeon

20 Dollar Nose Bleed features Brendon Urie

West Coast Smoker features Debbie Harry of Blondie

Beat It (Micheal Jackson Cover) features a guitar solo from J*hn M*yer

on srar

Just One Yesterday features Foxes

The Mighty Fall features vocals and a writing credit from Big Sean

Rat a Tat features Courtney Love of Hole as a vocalist and writer

Save Rock and Roll features vocals from Elton John

on ab/ap

there is a version of Irresistible that features Demi Lovato but that was not released on the standard version of the album

American Beauty/American Psycho features writting from Nikki Sixx of Mötley Crüe and french musician Sebastian

on mania

Church features artists Kate York and Audra Mae as writers

Champion features Sia and her long time collaborator Jesse Shatkin as writers

Sunshine Riptide features Burna Boy as a writer and vocalist

(also note Dear Future Self (Hands Up) which features Wyclef Jean on believers never die vol. 2)

i didn't include remixes but a few notable and iconic ones are:

This Ain't a Scene... with Kanye West

My Songs... with 2 Chainz and Modo

the entirety on Make America Psycho Again tbh

Champion with RM of BTS

other collaborations- but not under the fob discography (in no particular order):

Cupid's Chokehold/Breakfast in America and Clothes Off!- Gym Class Heroes

King Of Wishful Thinking- New Found Glory

Everything Is Alright- Motion City Soundtrack

The Last Hero- XV

One Of THOSE Nights- The Cab

Jock Powerviolence- Weekend Nachos (this one has Patrick heavy metal screaming its so great pls pls pls listen to it)

86 Missed Calls- Man With a Mission

Summer Days- Marvin Garrix

Back To Earth- Steve Aoki

I've Been Waiting- Lil Peep and ILoveMakonnen

One and Only- Timberland (if u are into reading pete's old livejournals the lyrics to this one will sound familiar !!)

Dancing With he Devil- Krewella

All Your Heart- Transit

Second Chances- October Fall

Don't Wake Me Up- The Hush Sound

Birthday Girl- The Roots

Don't Regret It Now- Tyga

Check Your Phone- Cheap Cuts

In Transit- Mark Hoppus

If You Could Remember- Damnation A.D.

New Music Sucks- POSEHN

okay I think I got a lot of them but patrick literally composes and has his vocals all over the place so I literally could not name every band he has done a project with !! but if u feel like it, go look through his music credits lol its extensive

notably he has random backup vocal/composing/production credits on these albums to name a few

Viva La Cobra- Cobra Starship

basically every Gym Class Heroes Album

In Loving Memory of When I Gave a Shit- LOLO

California- Blink 182

Ungreatful- Escape the Fate

[popmusicu]

Why Rain on me (remix) is the latin music we deserve.

Within the not so new controversy about the Latin Grammy, the question once again emerges ¿What is good latin representation in music?.

Lady Gaga and Ariana Grande are one of the biggest and highest grossing stars on the US pop charts. Both signed a feat in the dance pop song "Rain on me" for last year's Gaga's album "Chromatica".

Breaking nº1 in many countries, collecting 338M views on Youtube and earning them a grammy for the best pop duo by the time of this post, there's no doubt about the single's comercial success, but honestly the combination of both names is pretty much one of the safest blueprints for a industry hit you could make. The interesting part came this year with the announcement of a remix album dramatically named "Dawn of chromatica".

Renovating itself in spirit, Dawn of chromatica became so much more than the usual remix album. During the first listen it became apparent how Gaga gave the newest feat artists almost full liberty to alter her originals.

Within strong names associated with the hyperpop genre such as Charli XCX, Shygirl, Dorian Electra and one spectacular display of "brega pop"(a northern brazilian/caribean rythm) by Pabllo Vittar at the "Fun Tonight" remix, the aclamed producer and venezuelan artist Alejandra Ghersi, better known as "Arca", made herself a spot in history with one of the bravest and most challenging mainstream remixes of all time. 

"Rain on me (Arca remix)" first seconds came with a instant clash of one of Arca's last year collabs with Bjork, "Time", featured in her 2020 experimental/industrial pop album "Kick I". I think for the most part of Arca fans, that mixing would have been enough for a pleasant experience, but around the minute or so, between the well known Grande and Gaga's vocals an almost raw sample from Dj Yirvin "Metelo sacalo" starts playing, displacing the expectations of any latin person listening, and maybe surprising one smart US citizen or another.

Dj Yirvin is one the biggest exponents of "Changa Tuki" (also known as "Raptor House"), a homegrown electronic dance subgenre that became esential part of the club scene around the 2000's in Venezuela.

With a width of influences ranging between 90's techno, house and tribal music, "Changa Tuki" found a way to create a club music identity in the Caracas ghetto culture. Eventually dispersing as colateral damage for the Venezuelan political agenda, the subgenre is still relevant at some niche club parties around Peru and some other south american countries. 

To quote Arca's "Mequetrefe"; "ella vino caminando desde su casa, ella no toma taxi, que la vean, que la vean en las calles", Arca once again showed her discomfort not only with gender normativity but also musical taboos.

Often related with classism, ghetto music tends to be looked down in mainstream music and rarely finds their way up, usually trough some pop star that found something "cool" in a latin culture, see by example "Llorando se fue", a single by bolivian folclore group Los Kjarkas, brutally exploitated (originally without giving any sort of acknowledgment) to make the world hit known as "Lambada" and a posterior top billboard song sampling it as big as "On the floor" by Pitbull and JLO.

Arca even closes her statement with flourish and another iconic well known latin mantra; "a mover el culo" repeteadly says by the end, an iconic sentence originally popularized in 1999 in the song "Coolo" by a popular argentinian hip hop, pop rock duo called "Illya Kuryaki and the Valderramas", but then used around the 2000's as a popular catchphrase for reggaeton and latin pop verses.

Latin music at it's worst can be first world artists harnessing latin culture for it's exotical appeal, in ways as simple as Billie Eilish appearing at the cover of top latin mixes in Spotify, or as harmful as the unacknowledgment of The Kjarkas. But at it's best it can be a way to give empowerment to our often "mirada a huevo" latin american culture, a way to realize the richness between our daily creative ways of dealing with precarization, the aftermaths of colonization and our maybe economically but never culturally underdeveloped countries.

Post by Alejandro Montecinos Spotorno.

[truthfox870]

Lana Del Rey Unreleased Music

Photo by Katie Stratton/Getty Images for Coachella.

To know Lana Del Rey is to know she has a lot of unreleased songs. Thankfully, she also has a legion of fans who have made it their mission to not only keep track of these unreleased tracks but upload them to the internet. And while Del Rey’s never been a fan of leaks, even she seems to understand why these releases are so important to her fans. Last year, she said that she was thinking about putting together an album dedicated to the songs that came out before their time. And, just last week, she herself shared an old demo of the song “Elvis” from 2008.

Music On TV: What Works Now; Close Calls; Chart Search; Boxscore; Billboard Bulletin; Artist index; Song Index; PRO CHARTS. Pop Songs; Hot R&B / Hip-Hop Songs; Hot Country Songs; Songwriters.

Lana Del Rey - unreleased. Request songs, or ask anything you'd like. January 8, 2017 To everyone who’s sent in requests. Why do you think lana keeps so much of her music to herself. I think this is mainly stuff that she did prior to her major career. And a lot of artists have a ton of unreleased music!

Rumor has it, there are more than 200 other unreleased Del Rey tracks out in the world, which is a bigger collection of songs than her official releases, if you can believe it. Ahead, we bring you some of our favorites, which span all the way back to her MySpace and Lizzy Grant days. And just like the ineffable quality of a rose, a Lana Del Rey song by any other name still sounds as sweet.

“Kinda Outta Luck”

This song was released around the same time as “Video Games” and comes with a similarly homemade-looking music video. “Video Games” propelled her into the spotlight, but “Kinda Outta Luck” is no less spectacular. It’s interesting to think where her career might be had this song been the world’s first introduction to the singer.

Lana del rey - unreleased By nataliadavis24. Updating ASAP - serial killer, meet me in the pale moonlight, smarty, queen of disaster, motel 6, party girl, i want you boy, 1949, boss, is it wrong, yes to heaven, fine china, afraid, burning desire, ridin, hit and run, hundred dollar bill, paradise, prom song, summer wine, young and beautiful. Lana Del Rey - unreleased. Why do you think lana keeps so much of her music to herself. And a lot of artists have a ton of unreleased music!

“Dangerous Girl”

In a 2010 interview, Del Rey described this song as “an all American relationship gone wrong” which, to be honest, could be used to summarize a majority of her songs.

“Get Drunk”

Lana Del Rey Unreleased Full Album

“Get Drunk” starts out with Del Rey declaring: “I am sleeping with your best friend.” Some fans have speculated that the song is about the drinking problem she had as a teenager as the bulk of it finds the singer begging someone to come drink with her.

“Never Let Me Go”

This song, recorded in 2010, embodies the 'live fast, die young' quality of so many Del Rey songs. And you know what? Sometimes consistency is nice.

“Queen of Disaster”

Then again, it’s also nice to hear artists experiment with different sounds. This song veers more Motown than anything we’ve heard from Del Rey before but still shows off her signature croon.

“Serial Killer”

ReCycle is a creative tool that helps you make the most of your grooves. In simple terms, ReCycle lets you do with sampled loops what you can do with beats programmed from individual drum sounds – like alter the tempo, or replace sounds and process them individually. A tool for quickly editing sampled parts, chopping up riffs, remixing and doing mash ups. This is a download only version. Propellerhead Recycle 2.2 Torrent Mac - linxcelestial. Propellerhead Record Torrent. Reason Recycle Mac Torrent. Scene group AiR has released version 2.2.4 of the loop slicer ReCycle. Nothing special to say about this updated build. Description: ReCycle is a creative tool that helps you make the most of. ReCycle 2.2 Fix List. The program is now compatible with 64 bit operating systems. ReCyle 2.2 is also a true Cocoa program under Mac OS and fully compatible with Mac OS X 10.7 Lion. ReCycle 2.2 requires a Mac with an Intel processor. PowerPC is no longer supported. The main window has been graphically redesigned, including new zooming and scrolling. Description of Propellerhead ReCycle 2.2 Propellerhead ReCycle 2.2 for PC & Mac, Windows, OSX, and Linux. From Propellerhead Software comes a suite of programs that gives you full creative control over your looped material. ReCycle turns concrete-rigid loops into musical modeling clay, allowing you, the loopist, to do pretty much what you desire. Propellerheads ReCycle v2.2.4 WIN OSX Incl Keygen-AiR Team AiR 29.45 MB Check links: All links are alive! ReCycle is a creative tool that helps you make the most of your grooves. In simple terms, ReCycle lets you do with sampled loops what you can do with beats programmed from individual drum sounds – like alter the tempo, or replace sounds and process them individually. Propellerhead recycle free download.

This song was recorded as one of the first tracks for Del Rey’s second studio album but didn’t make the cut. It’s a stalker sociopath song set to a trip-hop beat. Nothing more Lana than that.

“Pawn Shop Blues”

Del Rey stans will likely tell you this is one of her favorite unreleased songs. It also happens to be one of her saddest. 'No man can keep me together,” she sings. “Been broken since I was born.”

“Back To The Basics”

Most Del Rey songs have a singularly morose quality, but this doesn't. It’s actually upbeat! And happy! And includes the signature Del Rey message of loving someone you probably shouldn’t, but not caring about the consequences.

“Prom Song (Gone Wrong)” Imdg code volume 1 latest edition.

Of course, Del Rey would have a song about prom. Is there anything that better embodies fairy-tale romance and youth than a high school dance? The song has also gone by the name “Dreams” and “Teenage Wasteland.”

“Hollywood”

Lana Del Rey Unreleased Download

Del Rey acknowledged this song during an Instagram Live last year after a fan asked about 'Hollywood Dead,' a different unreleased track: “Actually, there was a song, ‘Hollywood,’ that got leaked with the wrong production,” she said. Meaning, there’s another unreleased version of this track out there in the ether. After singing a verse from the song, Del Rey said she intends on releasing it officially in the (hopefully near) future.

[biconicfinn]

7, 8, 20?

first of all thank you for the ask nati!! i’m sorry this took so long, i’ve been swamped with family stuff lately <3 just a heads up! all the links are for spotify!!

7: A song that you love from a genre you don’t usually like

a genre i dont actively listen to is country music bc it’s usually very us american-centric and i personally can’t relate to a lot of the songs that are more patriotic/americana/us lived experience ish? but i have three (3) country songs that i will go hard for no matter what because they are incredible

1. jolene by dolly parton - okay so this song just slaps i dont know what else to tell you; it has a very fun beat and the lyrics are so good and intriguing??????? also it’s so cute that dolly parton titled the song after a little kid who was a fan of hers i find that so adorable 

2. daddy lessons by beyoncé ft. the chicks - DO I EVEN NEED TO EXPLAIN???????? beyoncé first released this song in the lemonade album and it was already amazing; it gets you moving and dancing and instrumentals alone would make it incredible but the VOCALS????????????? QUEEN BEY REMINDED EVERYONE WHY SHE WEARS THE CROWN ESPECIALLY WHEN SHE TOOK THE COUNTRY MUSIC AWARDS BY STORM WITH THE CHICKS!!!!! 2 iconic af artists sharing the stage for that performance was incredible and the performance alone is one of my favourites but everything about this song makes me love it more and more also the outfit she wore for the awards? amazing

3. old town road (remix) by lil nas x ft. billy ray cyrus - love it or hate it this song is amazing and it changed the way people looked at country music, it set records like no one else has ever seen and it’s genuinely a fun song. love the cowboy vibes especially because cowboys in the us were typically black and latino men (and iirc many of them were gay right?) so that’s fun! lil nas x is hilarious and i can’t wait to see what else he’s going to do with his music

8: A song that you liked when you where 10 that still slaps

so i’m going to restrict this to songs that came out when i was 10 that i still love because i have a huge soft spot for the 2005ish to 2015ish era of music if not this would be super long dkbjvksfjgkdjfhgkdsjg (un)fortunately the list is still long af because so many good albums came out in 2011 i’m gonna start right off by saying that the best album of 2011 hands down was beyoncé’s 4 album. it is a masterpiece both instrumentally and vocally and it crosses so many genres and is abso-fucking-lutely ICONIC and there are zero skips on this album even today no i will not be taking criticism <3 next i’m gonna just say that one direction’s up all night was released in 2011 and it too is total POP PERFECTION! it has so many fond memories for me and the songs still slap another great album of 2011 is rihanna’s talk that talk!!! so many incredible songs and it’s just one banger after the other ugh your fave could never!!!

okay quickfire round: avril lavigne’s what the hell, lady gaga’s judas and born this way, selena gomez and the scene’s love you like a love song, adele’s rumour has it

20: A song from the soundtrack of a film that you like so much after the film finished you immediately looked for it okay this is easy, spider-man: into the spiderverse has such a great soundtrack that i IMMEDIATELY saved it on my spotify on the way out of the theatre because holy shit not only was each song so good, but every song was used so perfectly in the movie that you couldn’t really want to replace it with anything idk how to explain but oh you know how people like to replace immigrant song in that ending fight scene in thor: ragnorok with other songs to match the beat or give it a different vibe? i feel like for itsv, you can’t separate the two like that because of how connected the music is to the storytelling. it’s one of the most complete soundtracks i ever heard in a movie ever! 

i’m not going to add movie scores because i don’t think that’s the point of the ask meme? and also i would be making this ask longer than it already is dkfndkjfgnakdjfgk so sorry this is so long and i hope you enjoyed!

[technoskittles]

Pure Feeling Playlist

Okay, so I had someone on twitter express interest in the songs I have for my playlist for Pure Feeling and figured, yeah, I could share it. I don’t have a spotify (I don’t like the interface plus the music selection is way too limited for my taste) and the playlist itself is on Youtube Music. It’s also private because I don’t really want random people seeing it or other people messing with it if I unlocked it, so I’ll just type up all the songs here with links that way y’all can scroll through and listen to what you want.

I understand there’s probably an easier and faster way to do this probably, but hey, with the quarantine I clearly have some extra time on my hands so why not?

Though, couple of warnings:

1. It’s LOOOOOOONG (it’s 300+ songs in total) (don’t worry I’m gonna put this under a cut)

2. Some of the songs aren’t going to make much sense in terms of the AU. This is for two reasons: a) Some of the songs allude to events/characters that haven’t shown up in the story yet (there’s a LOT of songs regarding Mara’s father) and b) some of them are just general songs that I use to get a basis of emotion/vibe when writing particular types of scenes.

3. My music tastes are all over the place (and this doesn’t even include some of the other genres I listen to just because it doesn’t fit this AU lol)

But this playlist is my main muse and is probably one of the best insights to my process/inner thoughts so, without further ado.....my full playlist.

(I grouped the songs from the same artist together for the easiest convenience)

(And some songs might kind of be repeats if I listen to multiple versions for the purpose of this fic)

Got any favorites? Any songs that worry you about the future of this fic? Or just something you might want more clarification on? Feel free to shoot me ask about it!

South London Forever by Florence + The Machine

Patricia by Florence + The Machine

I Will Be by Florence + The Machine

Too Much Is Never Enough by Florence + The Machine

You’ve Got The Love by Florence + The Machine

Never Let Me Go by Florence + The Machine

Dog Days Are Over by Florence + The Machine

Cosmic Love by Florence + The Machine

Ship To Wreck by Florence + The Machine

St. Jude by Florence + The Machine

Over The Love by Florence + The Machine

Pure Feeling by Florence + The Machine (hey look it’s the fic title)

Heavy In Your Arms by Florence + The Machine

What Kind Of Man by Florence + The Machine

Stuck On You by Meiko

Stuck On You (Acoustic Version) by Meiko

Adventure of A Lifetime by Coldplay

Sky Full of Stars by Coldplay

Hymn For The Weekend by Coldplay

Simple and Clean by Hikaru Utada

Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence - FYI - Hikaru Utada

Be My Last by Hikaru Utada

Colors by Hikaru Utada

Distance (M-Flo Remix) by Hikaru Utada

Without You (Justice Skolnik Remix) by Oh Wonder

Rockabye by Clean Bandit ft. Sean Paul & Anne-Marie

In The Rain (an unofficial rendition from Miraculous Ladybug by David Russell)

Stone Heart (an unofficial rendition from Miraculous Ladybug by sxrlove06)

Lost In The Moment by Daniel Lee Kendall

Fragile by ARCADES

Daddy Issues by The Neighbourhood

Scary Love by The Neighbourhood

Sweater Weather by The Neighbourhood

Sweater Weather (Vaski Remix) by The Neighbourhood

Honest by The Neighbourhood

Alleyways by The Neighbourhood

Stuck With Me by The Neighbourhood

Lights by Ellie Goulding

Goodness Gracious (The Chainsmokers Remix) by Ellie Goulding

Still Falling For You by Ellie Goulding

Starry Eyed by Ellie Goulding

Don’t Need Nobody by Ellie Goulding

Candy-Coloured Sky by Catmosphere

‘Till We’re In The Sea by RKCB

affection by Jinsang

summers day v2 by Jinsang

Let Go by Frou Frou

Must Be Dreaming by Frou Frou

I Just Want You by Robert Duncan

Forget by Alicks

Dinner & Diatribes by Hozier

Nevermind by Dennis Lloyd

Let It Happen by Tame Impala

Think About You by Kygo ft. Valerie Broussard

First Time by Kygo ft. Ellie Goulding

Fragile by Kygo ft. Labrinth

Feel Your Love by Nyquill

I See You by MISSIO

Learn To Let Go by Kesha

Praying by Kesha

I Love My Life by Justice Crew

Sex by Cheat Codes x Kris Kross Amsterdam

Everlong by Foo Fighters

Party Like It’s Your Birthday by Studio Killers

The Disappearance of The Girl by Phildel

Soul On Fire by Mystery Skulls

we’ve never met but, can we have coffee or something? by in love with a ghost

What is Love? by Y//2//K & Yung Death Ray ft. Jaymes Young

A Manner to Act by Ra Ra Riot

Suckers by Ra Ra Riot

Do You Remember by Ra Ra Riot

You And I Know by Ra Ra Riot

Oh, La by Ra Ra Riot

Can You Tell by Ra Ra Riot

Consequence by The Notwist

Anyone Else by PVRIS

Dead Weight by PVRIS

Can You Hold Me by NF ft. Britt Nicole

Young Folks by Peter Bjorn and John

No Fear by Dej Loaf

I’ve Been Waiting by Lil Peep & ILoveMakonnen ft. Fall Out Boy

Give U Up by CALVIN (I’m sorry in advance for this one)

Heartbeat by Scouting For Girls

Keep It Simple by Tove Lo

Sweettalk My Heart by Tove Lo

Glad He’s Gone by Tove Lo

Not On Drugs by Tove Lo

Got Love by Tove Lo

Crave by Tove Lo

Paradise by Tove Lo

Moments by Tove Lo

Talking Body by Tove Lo

Habits (Stay High) by Tove Lo

Scars by Tove Lo

Out Of Your Mind by Tove Lo

Vibes by Tove Lo

Lies In The Dark by Tove Lo

Come Undone by Tove Lo

dont ask dont tell by Tove Lo

Cherry Blossom by ALA.NI

Feels Like Home by The Him ft. Son Mieux

Quiet by Lights

Skydiving by Lights

365 by Zedd & Katy Perry

Left to Right by Marteen

Could You Love Me? by Black Saint

Midnight City by M83

Marble Soda by Shawn Wasabi

Crystal Dolphin by Engelwood

Pusher (Shawn Wasabi Remix) by Clear ft. Mothica

She’s A Riot by The Jungle Giants

Stranger by Jay Hayden & King Vodka

Now That I’ve Found You by Carly Rae Jepsen

Marty McFly by Luke Christopher

Rocks by Imagine Dragons

All Day And Night by Jax Jones ft. Madison Beer & Martin Solveig

Run Free by Deep Chills ft. IVIE

Maps by Maroon 5

Feelings by Maroon 5

blue by Pools

High Hopes (The Lucifer Edit) by Quails

breathin’ by Ariana Grande

Into You by Ariana Grande

Shy Girl by Kedam

Something Good Can Work by Two Door Cinema Club

What You Know by Two Door Cinema Club

Sleep Alone by Two Door Cinema Club

This Is The Life by Two Door Cinema Club

Do You Want It All? by Two Door Cinema Club

Sun by Two Door Cinema Club

Eat That Up, It’s Good For You by Two Door Cinema Club

Undercover Martyn by Two Door Cinema Club

Sunflower by Post Malone & Swan Lee

Señorita by Shawn Medes & Camila Cabello

Her Morning Elegance by Oren Lavie

Everybody’s Angel by Down With Webster

All Fall Down by OneRepublic

Counting Stars by OneRepublic

HOLD ME TIGHT OR DON’T by Fall Out Boy

Jenny by Walk The Moon

Youth by Daughter

Get Lucky (Cover) by Daughter

Love by Daughter

River Flows In You by Yiruma

Girls And Boys In School by Neon Trees

Girls And Boys In School (EP Version) by Neon Trees

Helpless by Neon Trees

In The Next Room by Neon Trees

Beings by Madeon

Dried-Out Cities by Fallulah

Bloodline by Fallulah

Almost Home by Mariah Carey

Headlock by Imogen Heap

Closing In by Imogen Heap

Lifeline by Imogen Heap

Goodnight And Go by Imogen Heap

First Train Home by Imogen Heap

I Am In Love With You by Imogen Heap

The Walk by Imogen Heap

More by Kaskade & Felix Cartal ft. Jenn Blosil

Lay Down by Kaskade & Late Night Alumni

My Distance by Kaskade

Lessons In Love by Kaskade ft. Neon Trees

Kill The Lights (Audien Remix) by Alex Newell ft. DJ Cassidy, Nile Rogers, & Jess Glynne

Fall In Love/Lie by INNA

Cola Song by INNA

Caliente by INNA

Iguana by INNA

Ruleta by INNA ft. Erik

I Like You by INNA

Love by INNA

Shining Star by INNA

Bebe by INNA

Bebe (Yaniss Extended Remix) by INNA

Better Not by Louis The Child ft. Wafia

Living Island by Pogo

Still Into You by Paramore

Hard Times by Paramore

Emergency by Paramore

Ignorance by Paramore

I Caught Myself by Paramore

Letting Go by HERB x Kendall Miles

To Be Human by Sia ft. Labrinth

Big Girls Cry (ODESZA Remix) by Sia

Elastic Heart by Sia

Angel By The Wings by Sia

If You Didn’t See Me (Then You Weren’t On The Dancefloor) by Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr.

Butterfly In The Still by Iwasaki Taku

Dare (La La La) by Shakira

Me Enamore by Shakira

Loca by Shakira ft. Dizzee Rascal

Te Aviso, Te Anuncio (Tango) by Shakira

Addicted To You by Shakira

Whenever, Wherever by Shakira

When A Woman by Shakira

Can’t Remember To Forget You by Shakira ft. Rihanna

Better Than Yesterday by HollySiz

This is What You Came For by Calvin Harris ft. Rihanna

Sweet Nothing by Calvin Harris ft. Florence Welch

Rain by Pueblo Vista ft. .Eehlou & Shiloh Dynasty

G.B.D. Pressure (Extended) by Chillster

Valentine by Aether ft. Veela

Lemme See by Usher ft. Rick Ross

Promises by Aly & AJ

Like Whoa by Aly & AJ

Silence by Aly & AJ

Find A Way by Safety Suit

Ordinary Day by Emilie Mover

Green Light by Lorde

Don’t Feel Like Crying (MK Remix) by Sigrid

Crazy in Love by EDEN ft. Leah Kelly

Broken Girl by Matthew West

Crazy in Love by Sofia Karlberg

This Is What Makes Us Girls (The Confect Remix) by Lana del Rey

1901 by Phoenix

Lisztomania by Phoenix

Please Don’t Touch by RAYE

Island In The Sun by Weezer

God Is A Dancer by Tiesto & Mabel

Tighten Up by The Black Keys

Do I Wanna Know? by Arctic Monkeys

Lazy Eye by Silversun Pickups

Don’t Play by Halsey

Bad At Love by Halsey

Young God by Halsey

Now Or Never by Halsey

Hurricane by Halsey

Drive by Halsey

Eyes Closed by Halsey

Eyes Closed (Stripped) by Halsey

Haunting by Halsey

Strangers by Halsey ft. Lauren Jauregui

100 Letters by Halsey

Ghost by Halsey

Break A Sweat by Becky G

Little Talks by Of Monsters And Men

I wanna be your girlfriend by girl in red

Run by Alison Wonderland

I Want U by Alison Wonderland

Peace by Alison Wonderland

Peace (Acoustic) by Alison Wonderland

Dead To Me by Kali Uchis

Good Enough by Evanescence

Go Slow by Gorgon City & Kaskade ft. Romeo

Feel Good Inc by filous & LissA

All I Need by Within Temptation

A Lot Like Love (Oliver Heldens Edit) by The Voyagers ft. Haris

Hideaway by Kiesza

Memories by KSHMR ft. Sirah

American Sadness by XYLO

One Step At A Time by Jordin Sparks

Your Shirt by Chelsea Cutler

Hope Of Morning by Icon For Hire

Collect Call by Metric

Flowers On The Grave (Acoustic) by The Maine

Fabulous by Ally Brooke

Falling (blackbear Remix) by Trevor Daniel

You by Petit Biscuit

Unlove You (Drop G Remix) by Armin van Burren ft. Ne-Yo

Formation (R-TRAX Trap Remix) by Beyonce

Schoolin’ Life by Beyonce

Simmer by Hayley Williams

Ruby by Foster The People

Moral Of The Story by Ashe

Colorblind (Left/Right Remix) by Karma Fields ft. Tove Lo

Don’t Stop The Music by Jamie Cullum

Goody Two Shoes by Adam Ant

Don’t Stop the Fancy Footwork (Chromeo vs. Rihanna)

She Wolf (Falling To Pieces) by David Guetta ft. Sia

Slow Burn by Audiograf

Write My Story by Olly Anna

1 Thing by Amerie

I Like That by Janelle Monae

Your Favorite Place by Joey Pecoraro

Beauty Mark by Parov Stelar ft. Anduze

Dead Hearts by Stars

Change of Seasons (EP Version) by Sweet Thing

Larger Than Life by Pink Zebra ft. Benji Jackson

Are You With Me (Pretty Pink Remix) by Lost Frequencies

Nothing But by Skin

In Common (Kenny Dope Remix) by Alicia Keys

Resonance by HOME

All Stars by Martin Solveig ft. ALMA

Lavender’s Blue Dilly Dilly [From the Cinderella (2015) OST]

Besame Mucho by Jorge Blanco

Touch You Right Now by Basic Element

Dinero by Trinidad

Icon (Reggaeton Remix) by Jaden Smith ft. Nicky Jam & Will Smith

Make Me Sweat by Kat DeLuna

Sombredosis by Kat DeLuna ft. El Cata

Real Love by Memory Tapes

Feelings by Hayley Kiyoko

This Side Of Paradise by Hayley Kiyoko

Wanna Be Missed by Hayley Kiyoko

Gravel To Tempo by Hayley Kiyoko

Pretty Girl by Hayley Kiyoko

Fiesta (Remix) by Bombe Estereo ft. Will Smith

Love by TeZATalks

Had by TeZATalks

Heal by Loreen

Analyser by AlunaGeorge

Attracting Flies by AlunaGeorge

Damaged by Plummet

My Kind by Hilary Duff

Sparks by Hilary Duff

Talk by DJ Snake ft. George Maple

First summer without you by Outgoing Hikikomori

First birthday without you by Outgoing Hikikomori

2 Heads by Coleman Hell

Mathematics by Little Boots

Hearts Collide by Little Boots

Meddle by Little Boots

Parachute by Cheryl Cole

When she went away by Max Richter

When she came back by Max Richter

Who Knew by Pink

Lash Out by Alice Merton

Back To The Start by Mr. Little Jeans

Perfecto. by Ayo. & .Disfnk ft. Daniela Andrade

service by j^p^n

I’m In Love Again by tomppabeats

Close by Nick Jonas ft. Tove Lo

Falling Apart by Michael Schulte

Dusk ‘Til Dawn by ZAYN ft. Sia

Pillowtalk by ZAYN

Minimal Beat by Lindsey Stirling

Perfect Illusion by Lady Gaga

Do I Wanna Know? (Cover) by CHVRCHES

La Familia (Guy Sigsworth Remix) by Mirah

Broken Parts by The Ready Set & Mokita

Invisible Chains by Lauren Jauregui

Lonely Gun by CYN

Cartier by Dopebwoy ft. 3robi & Chivv

Boss Bitch by Doja Cat

[saleintothe90s]

399. The “Cats” round up

This week was Halloween, and this year I went as Jemima from Cats. Why did I decide on this costume? Well, seeing the trailer (and H3H3′s reaction to it) for the scary 2019 movie with those basic b’s Taylor and James made me want to see the original Cats, the good Cats. 

You can watch most of the direct to VHS 1998 edition on YouTube in parts. So far, its the only musical that doesn’t bore me to tears, even if the scenes where they perform a play for Old Deuteronomy makes no sense. 

You know what Cats sorta reminds me of, that old PBS show Zoobilee Zoo, especially Victoria the white cat, she reminds me of the pink kangaroo lady. 

Cats came to New York City in October of 1982 after beginning a successful run in London. It was announced at the end of 1981 that the musical would be coming to New York:

Anticipation was so great that copies of T.S. Eliot’s original work was selling out: 

(I’m mad I can’t find this commercial)

Tickets for the show were sold months in advance, with many bulk orders: 

More than six months before opening night, the Fresh Air Fund had already bought 500 seats. The Arthritis Foundation purchased 300 tickets, the Archives of American Art bought 300, and the American Red Cross bought 500 seats. Then there was the Burden Center for Aging with 300, University Settlement with 200 and the Social Service Big Sister League with 500 seats. Those are just a handful among many, but by the time ''Cats'' opened on Broadway last week such orders added up to $6.2 million in advance ticket sales. Of that sum, $4.5 million had already been collected, with only $1.7 million in contracts still to be paid in full. This could be the largest advance sale in Broadway history, according to many theater analysts. Orders began to come in more than a year before ''Cats'' - a big hit in London - finally arrived in New York, and tickets are now being sold as far in advance as next May. 2

The musical debut was also supposed to be a cover story in Newsweek, but the Tylenol murders prevailed. 2 

Someone defaced the copy at archive.org. 

I somehow found the cover though. I wonder if this was for Canada? There are people on sketchy websites selling this as a print? The library bound Newsweek from archive.org has the Tylenol cover. I believe the woman on the bottom row, right is Janet Hubert, who played Aunt Viv the first on Fresh Prince. In Cats, she played Tantomile in the first Broadway cast. 

(I made screencaps of the Newsweek article and uploaded the screencaps to the mirror site on wordpress)

As you may have noticed these Cats from the early 80s are kind of scary looking. There are several videos on YouTube of the cast performing at the 1983 Tony Awards, and there is this cat that is absolutely terrifying: 

It’s the one who sings “can you see in the dark?!”.  I think its Demeter, and Marlene Danielle is playing her? Marlene was an originally an understudy in 1982 and eventually played Bombularina until the end of Cats’ run on Broadway in 2000. 

Here she is on Today in 1999 discussing the role and she also performs “Macavity”.

The cats of Cats became so popular in the 1980s that they were even in a No Smoking commercial. 

And a seat buckle/child seat PSA! This one is really dark, I mean Memory plays at the end. 

In 1984, Rum Tum Tugger became the star of his own music video. 3 I don’t know how often MTV played this--maybe it played more overseas. I remember my choir teacher in high school, Ms. Forrest showing us a VHS once of music videos from Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musicals, and she said that they were popular in the UK and shown on MTV over there. All I remember is a Phantom of the Opera remix and Requiem sung by his ex-wife. 

By 1987, Celine Dion (who was still a music star in Canada, but not yet America, and sung mostly in French) sang Memory on TV. 

In this clip from the short lived America’s Talking channel (later to become MSNBC) a reporter asks the cats what they did on their snow day during the 1996 blizzard. I can’t confirm this, but he says that it was the first time the show had ever been canceled. This reporter is peak 1996 in mens clothes with his bomber jacket and tie. 

By June of 1997, Cats broke the record previously held by A Chorus Line of longest running show on Broadway:

Along the way to its longevity record, which applies just to Broadway shows, ''Cats'' has piled up some big numbers. It has provided employment to 231 actors, two of whom, Marlene Danielle and Susan Powers, have been with the musical since it opened. (Nineteen cast members have died.) The magical tire that carries Grizabella heavenward has clocked more than 114 miles in its nightly voyage to the Heaviside Layer. ''Memory,'' the show-stopping song that ends the first act, has been recorded by more than 180 artists. The New York production has used more than 1.5 million pounds of dry ice and 2,706 pounds of yak hair for wigs. It has sold 390,000 T-shirts, 130,000 sweat shirts, 147,000 lapel pins and 1.14 million souvenir books. 1

Also, in 1997 an audience member because she thought Rum Tum Tugger was too aggressive with her. 

Related: 

Original review from The New York Times

Reading Rainbow segment on Cats

Another Reading Rainbow segment on Cats, similar to the first.

Stars of the Original Cats Share Their Favorite Memories

Los Angeles news segment series on the L.A. Production of Cats. 

Almost every time our boy David Letterman brought up Cats. 

The Cast of CATS (2016) Meets Shelter Cats | Cats the Musical

EVENT CAPSULE CLEAN - Grumpy Cat Visits The Broadway Cast of 'Cats' Facebook | Etsy | Retail History Blog | Twitter | snapchat (thelastvcr) |YouTube Playlist| Random Post | Instagram @ thelastvcr | other tumblr | Ko-fi donation | Honey Referral

1, Grimes, William, “ With 6,138 Lives, 'Cats' Sets Broadway Mark,” New York Times, June 19, 1997. https://www.nytimes.com/1997/06/19/theater/with-6138-lives-cats-sets-broadway-mark.html

2. Bennetts, Leslie, “ HOW TICKETS TO 'CATS' BECAME A 'MUST',” New York Times, October 13, 1982. https://www.nytimes.com/1982/10/13/theater/how-tickets-to-cats-became-a-must.html

3. Kaplan, Peter W., “TV NOTES; BROADWAY FIRST: 'CATS' DOES ROCK VIDEO TURN,” New York Times, November 10, 1984.  https://www.nytimes.com/1984/11/10/theater/tv-notes-broadway-first-cats-does-rock-video-turn.html

[tillidontneedfantasy]

No. 6 Collaborations Project - Ed Sheeran: I’m not like a regular musician, I’m an Uncool™ musician.

When Ed Sheeran emerged onto the American pop scene in 2011 - 2012 as an understated solo act, he famously utilized the loop pedal in his live shows, creating the sound of a full production with just his voice and one little guitar. This is just one of the elements that made Ed Sheeran such a compelling rising star; one singer-songwriter could cast a very large shadow. 

Sheeran’s dominance over the pop scene since then and throughout the last decade is undeniable, and he really wants you to know it and acknowledge it on No. 6, as he (rightfully, but not so moderately) celebrates his musical achievements and endeavors over the years on tracks such as “Take Me Back to London” featuring Stormzy and “Remember the Name” featuring Eminem & 50 Cent. But he also doesn’t want you to forget that still, despite all of his success, *Amy Poehler from Mean Girls voice* he’s not like a regular musician, he’s an uncool musician. Travis Scott opens “Antisocial,” a well-produced but underwhelming song about Sheeran’s introversion and anxiety, by stating, “All you cool people, you better leave now,” which sounds silly coming from an artist as "in” right now as Travis Scott. This is a message Sheeran attempts to drive home even more so on the opening track “Beautiful People” featuring Khalid, where Sheeran explains how he does not quite fit in with the lifestyle of his industry. For someone who is so adamant that he remains uncool, he sure scored a heap of very cool artists to collaborate with him on this new record, even including a DJ, loop pedal be damned.

Funny enough, the song including DJ and producer Skrillex, titled “Way To Break My Heart” is one of the few that is reminiscent of Sheeran’s roots, both sonically and lyrically. While Sheeran’s singer-songwriter chops have not particularly diminished with success, they feel repetitive and at a stalemate on No. 6. Sheeran still holds his own on the strongest tracks, but the voices featured on this project are what hold them up the most.

BEST TRACK: “I Don’t Want Your Money” featuring H.E.R.

No. 6 is thematically heavy on Sheeran’s relationships with fame and with his wife, Cherry. Sheeran is generally most triumphant when he focuses on the latter, a love song master as displayed by the overwhelming success of the overly cliched “Thinking Out Loud” and “Perfect” (from x and ÷  respectively), but is most effective on this album when he integrates it with the former. On “I Don’t Want Your Money,” Sheeran outlines the strains that celebrity life put on a relationship in a way that is universally relatable, whether you’re a pop mega-superstar or an average Joe from Chicago who’s had one viral tweet. In the 2nd verse, he sings: 

“Baby I’m doing it for us, so why you taking that tone like I’m the bad guy? / I thought it would have made me better in your dad’s eyes / I’m busy stacking up the paper for the bad times / ‘cause baby, you never know / I’m popping right now, but there will come a day when I won’t.” 

No matter the lifestyle or job, anyone who has ever been a working individual in a relationship knows the struggle of a work-life balance, and the pressure when things are going well to do all you can to maintain that lucrativeness in case it all falls apart in the future; it’s a sacrifice for the sake of security. Sheeran’s awareness that his height of fame for any musician is not built to last forever is also a refreshing note of modesty. H.E.R. graciously lends her magically soothing vocals as the voice of Sheeran’s wife, assuring him that his time is much more valuable to her than his money, beautifully supported by a very sweet guitar riff. There’s a lot of horns in this song as well, which don’t necessarily fit with the theme or vibe but somehow work anyway, because horn instruments can improve almost any pop song exponentially.

WEAKEST TRACK: “1000 Nights” featuring Meek Mill & A Boogie Wit da Hoodie 

Directly following the relatability of “I Don’t Want Your Money,” Sheeran reminds us that, despite the trick he might have just played on us, we, in fact, cannot relate. Sheeran chronicles his “faded” tour ventures as he casually hops through continents on “1000 nights.” Following a recent trend of artists dismissing any criticism or opinions that are not glowing, Sheeran proclaims in the 2nd verse, “I don’t need to read reviews if you can’t do the things I do.” Although Ed Sheeran will most definitely not need to read this blog post, I hope he and his peers remember that ubiquitous success does not make anyone impervious to imperfection, and that consumers are allowed to and should continue to think critically about art. Maybe that sentiment will mean more coming from me once I tour multiple continents.

THE IN-BETWEENS

One of the strongest tracks, “Best Part of Me” featuring YEBBA, showcases Sheeran’s longstanding ability to churn out a heartfelt ballad, musically stripped back with the simplicity of his earlier work and his staple romantic prose. “Feels” featuring Young Thug and J Hus is short, sweet, and catchy, yet feels easily lost in the fray. A bit too often, Sheeran sounds out of place on his own album. On “South of the Border,” a fun track that feels slightly derivative of the mega-smash lead single “Shape of You” from ÷, Camila Cabello and Cardi B steal the show. And on the jarring yet intriguing closer, “BLOW” featuring Chris Stapleton and Bruno Mars, Sheeran’s first verse is quickly dulled by Mars’s shine. Kudos to Sheeran for gathering such talent, but when it works best, Sheeran’s in the passenger’s seat while his contemporaries are driving, making you forget who even owns the car.

BEST PROSPECTIVE SINGLE: “Put It All On Me” featuring Ella Mai.

Ella Mai is the true star of “Put It All On Me,” and the slight growl in her voice when she sings the line, “grab my waist,” is a pure knock-out. Riding off the magical spell she cast on us all with “Boo’d Up,” she can help Sheeran keep the momentum of his Cool Uncool Guy image. It’s got the perfect tempo for the radio and has “make me into a club remix” wisely written all over its DNA. 

***

As Sheeran has released his past 3 solo major studio albums, + (2011), x (2014), and  ÷ (2017) (seemingly having a thing for math), he has evolved yet always stuck to his strengths. All artists should experiment, bend genre boundaries, collaborate, and step out of their comfort zones. But No. 6 mostly makes the listener feel like Sheeran is trying to prove that hip-hop is his comfort zone and strength, as he laments “I wanna try new things, they just want me to sing / Because nobody thinks I write rhymes” on “Take Me Back to London,” apparently backtracking from the x deluxe track “Take It Back” opening assertion, “I’m not a rapper / I’m a singer with a flow.” Well, it turns out 2014 Ed was correct. Ed sounds great when he sings with a quick “flow” and sticks to what he knows. The most effective way for any artist to successively evolve is by utilizing their strengths to create something different. In the few moments on No. 6 when Sheeran does so, his spark glimmers through and we’re reminded of why all these artists jumped at the chance to work with him, though he should feel just as (if not even more) lucky. Hopefully, his next release will leave behind the numbers by subtracting a bit and return to the basic equations. Grade: 2/5

DISCLAIMER - REVIEWER’S BIAS: I have been an Ed Sheeran fan since his debut release in 2011; I remember watching a video livestream for the American release of + that only 12 other people joined. I love all of +, a majority of x (which hold, in my opinion, his 2 best songs, “I’m A Mess” and “Nina”), and very little of ÷. I was very disappointed by ÷, but still consider myself a fan. I really wanted to love No. 6 and went in with an open mind and heart, but it just felt like a conglomerate of failed crossover attempts that just didn’t do it for me. I truly believe Ed is talented and has the potential to make an album in the future that I can proudly call myself a fan of, but No. 6 doesn’t quite qualify.

[djsinquarantine]

Damien RK Live: Loud for Home Live from France, By Sarah

Description: The stream was live on June 15, 2020 at 5 pm UTC/11 am EST on Twitch. Damien streamed from his apartment in France. The stream peaked at 80 viewers and remained at a steady 65-70 viewers throughout. During the stream, Damien encouraged people to leave tips and be paid subscribers to his Twitch channel. Damien spoke mostly in French, but would speak in English occasionally when referencing specific songs or individuals in the chat. The streaming link was  https://www.twitch.tv/damienrklive. 

Visual Experience: Damien’s “Loud For Home” stream was pretty visually engaging. Although he didn’t incorporate too many digital graphic elements, he had a lighting setup complete with flashing rainbow lights behind him and colorful rotating disco lights. The video stream was framed with orange and purple and on the right side of the stream was a live chat feed from the Twitch chat. Damien’s steam had a “virtual bar” where individuals could type !redeem *name of drink* in the chat and the drink would then appear on the right side of the screen along with their username. Three panels at the bottom of the video stream kept track of the newest follower, latest donor and highest donor.

As he performed, Damien was pretty animated, often jumping around and dancing. He seemed a lot less focused than other DJs during his set, only bothering to adjust the mixer at the transition. Most songs and mixes were by other artists and he would play them one after the other. In between transitions, during a song, Damien would frequently walk off to get another drink, take a sip of his beer and even light up a cigarette and take a drag of it every now and then. The cigarette played an interesting part in the stream: I have seen other streamers drink before but never light up inside and smoke on camera. It certainly rooted the stream in European club culture, as most Americans would probably wait until after their set to go smoke. 

Sonic Experience: As previously mentioned, Damien’s set was mostly made up of mixes and songs by other people played in succession. Damien made efforts to beat match his transitions, but otherwise, he let the songs play out as they were without adding many effects. The music was very contemporary electronic dance music and some of them were remixes of popular songs from the 90s and early aughts. Many of the artists are semi-popular digital electronic artists, but the remixes could have been Damien’s own. Some of the tracks played included

Otherside - RHCP Remix

Dying Day - Prdx Ft Saga

World Out There - D-sturb

Home - Pexxious

Univerze (Extended Mix) - Rebourne & Wasted Penguinz

Sweet Caroline Remix 

What The Hell (Not a Remix) - Avril Lavigne

Damien would also speak into his microphone at frequent intervals, often repeatedly cutting off songs to respond to comments in the chat, comment on the song or mention how drunk he was. Near the end of the set, he cut off Avril Lavigne’s “What The Hell” to address his daughter off camera, saying “ma fille est là-bas, elle est fatiguée” [my daughter is over there. She’s tired.] before mentioning he’d be logging off. 

Technology: Damien RK’s setup consisted of what appeared to be a variation of the Pioneer DJ DDJ 1000, basically an all-in-one CDJ and mixer interface. Next to his mixer he had his laptop, what appeared to be a MacBook pro that he likely used cycle through his songs. On the right side of the screen, Damien must have had a tablet or monitor that allowed him to keep tabs on the chat, as he would often look down to that side when addressing commenters. It is unclear what the rest of his tech setup was, as his front-facing camera only revealed so much, 

Social Experience: For a stream with only 65-80 viewers, the chat was pretty active and fast-paced, almost like streams with upwards of 150 viewers. Many commenters made use of the exclusive subscriber emotes Damien offers in his subscription pack, including a colorful emote of Damien’s face. In the chat, the commenters were often making jokes, especially of the “toilet humor” and “dick jokes” sort (“on veut la baguette”), to which Damien laughed. Of course, it only further contributed to the edm bro energy of Damien and the stream. Mostly the chat was either emotes or  jokes poking fun at Damien or other users. This chat was certainly less focused on the music and more focused on light-hearted humor and engaging with the chat features, especially with the virtual bar, which many users engaged with. With the virtual bar, you could choose between drinks like beer, vodka, cider, whiskey, coca cola and even capri sun. The virtual bar was successful in virtually recreating the culture around drinking that is present in live performance. 

Research Questions: I found that this stream tied well into Courtney’s research question about production value in large vs small streams. Damien puts on streams himself in his own home, and although the production value was not as elevated as some streams per-se, it definitely was a step up from streaming with an iPhone from an empty room. It may indicate that Damien was able to get funding from subscriptions or is himself well-off enough to allow him to have a flashy light setup, DSLR camera for streaming, and multiple screens to track his set and the comments. In terms of my question about donations, Damien’s stream was not organized around a specific cause, and was trying to raise money for himself as an artist through tips + subs.

Liveness: I think the aura of liveness was a bit more difficult to pinpoint here, but it was very easy to see where this stream was able to generate a successful reproduction of liveness, especially through Damien’s interaction with the chat, which allowed him to re-create the two-way DJ-audience relationship found in live performance that can otherwise be lost in some live streams. In addition, the virtual bar was also successful in re-creating the drinking culture found in club and rave scenes.

Difficulties: Native French speakers talk very quickly, and since this was the first French DJ stream I attended where the DJ actually spoke, it was hard to keep up with what he was saying.

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[carndriverrecords]

First Blog Post 3/20/20

Started CnD Records today. Feels Good.

Working on some diss tracks. Not sure if they see it coming - doesn’t matter either way.

Planning to release Car and Driver first real record this Friday 3/20/20. Driving Test Driver Fest 1. 

Self release first record - another 20 tracks next week. Compile top 10 - 15 for first release with other label - thinking Terrible, Kranky, blu ish label or Thrill Jockey. Citrus City a no-go for now. Maybe just keep building CnD records.

Be the middle man - take advantage of opportunities without sacrificing my bands’ (and those I represent) integrity.

Reach sleep destroyer.

Last night at Ted’s - great DJ set. Kidz bop remixes, Fancy. Crowd hated it. Ted disappointed we had to leave but it’s ok with everyone. Tall guy took aux right out of computer, have video. Started dancing - cucked everyone. Everyone thinks they’re the crazy charismatic guy. Am I actually? I think so. Syd thinks so. 

CnD Fest 2 , 3 , 4 at Purchase and beyond. Would like to play apartments, Scully’s den in BK (reach out) and Philly, DC etc.

Next voice memo album - 20 - 25 tracks right now. Better than the first. Danny said best album ever.

Working on “My oh Maia Reason Why” video - my favorite video I’ve ever seen. Getting good feedback.

Important to collab with certain SUNY people before I go:

Members of Lip Critic, Dawson, Neal, Gabe.

Send stuff back and forth with Joseph Kress. 

Need to write song about not sharing a stage w unstable Car and Driver - cost me 2 gigs. Ok because I had the police interaction that night. 

Things have been working out quite well. Syd is keeping me in check. Main priorities are keep the energy going while I can and make sure everyone around me is comfortable with me doing my thing, specifically mom, sofia.

Going to Only Angels tomorrow to collab with Alex.

Tues/Wed in RI with Zach Gorton. Need to see Nick Holcomb, Sofia, Will Orchard if he’s around. Riley in Boston? Would love to. 

Visit Dad soon on the way to Richmond, in a few weeks perhaps. Grandma Roberta etc. They have a BBQ place now - I bet it’s great. 

Follow up in the morning (3 hours from now) with wedding band, Kevin Daniels, drummer etc.

Film sunrise sessions at Purchase: My Ride’s Here, Splendid Isolation, Keep me in your heart, Studebaker, Cat’s in the Cradle, Everybody that you know. Don’t think twice, Boots of Spanish Leather, Someday my Prince, Teenage Dirtbag, Arthur (Woof Woof), Forget You, Signed Sealed Delivered, Superstition, The Promise, Hold me now (TT), Love on Top, Townes Van Zandt, 1-800 superstar, Evan Wright, Tom Petty, Blinded By the Light, Searching for a Heart, Mag Field’s, Barenaked Ladies, TMBG, Dolly Parton one sided love, Byrds, Beatles, Kinks, Stones, Parquet Courts, T Swift (Red, Way I loved you), Mitski, Sasami, Anything Could Happen, Beach House, He Needs Me, These Days, YLT, Beach Boys, Big Star Take Care, G500/Luna, Felt, Psychic TV, Shelia, BJM, Yellow Sarong, Over and Over, Hazel St, Heatherwood, Helicopter, He Would’ve Laughted, I wanna be your lover, The pump, Good enough (sleep destroyer), Them airs, BH (14, indian summer), help me scrape mucus off my brain), Beach Comber, DO YOUR THING, Icehead, Bobby, 1000 times, WIll Orchard, Bon Iver, MGMT, Tame impala, Instant Crush, etc. Art Vandelay, Quick Canal, Stereolab, Grouper, Broadcast, Animal Collective, Panda Bear, Bachelor Kisses, Cranberries, Cure, Pastels, MBV, I found a reason, pale blue eyes, Deerhoof, Gretel Alex G, Dancing w tears in my eyes, Elvis Costello, No age(things i did), Are ya ok, Maus, Ariel, R Stevie, Aphex Twin, Zomes, Vampire Weekend etc.

Bring Laptop for Beats on some and lyrics for all. 

Love life more than ever before. Music feels so good. Want to help, make amends, everything that moondog did. Don’t be homeless much longer.

Not sure if I like throbbing gristle - definitely like Psychic TV.

How savage should diss tracks be? Very? Match the severity of the person’s treatment of me/others. Aka - pretty bad for all except for Auto.

Listened to new Kanye today - 10x better and more influential than death grips. 

Realized today that i’ve spent my whole life wishing I was Kanye and now I am Kanye. Feels very good.

Everyone is gifted but internet makes us angst. 

I am mostly Camus right now - maybe more Kierkegaard soon. Religion and Terrence Malik. Still need to read books.

Order of Books: The graduate Portrait of the artist Consider Lobster Infinite Jest Pynchon Ulysses (At recommendation of American gamer association)

Syd is incredibly gifted. Want to help her feel comfortable doing art/work here in the chaos but also sort out the chaos for both of ours’ sake. I thrive in it, she tolerates well. Want to move to Riverdale still, maybe East Williamsburg with Backpack Chris. We’ll see about money. Philly perhaps, little too far. Jersey is good location but bad commute. Bad to RI. 

Visit RI and Boston Tues - Thurs. Sell Cigarettes at Concerts. Feels right.

Keep smoking for now - quit end of summer perhaps. 

Don’t have Corona Virus - glad we are not quarantined. Still be smart. Don’t expose mom regardless. Protect at ALL costs. 

Really though, why does Journee hate me? Write new track (Journee into forever nevermore not now not ever (Lou)) or Journee into SJW self righteous moral posturing (way too savage - maybe voice memo outro)

AR Kane album is incredible. Syd loves too. Sample everything.

Crazy - sound better at jazz than ever in my life. Exploring harmony - never practice. Teach free lessons all the time. Love the diminished scale. Might be best jazz guitarist to ever live. Time will tell. Would be cool long term. Prefer singing. 

Getting good at piano too.

I’m my favorite lyricist/comedian/actor.

Is maia right, acting isn’t hard? Weird they can’t act.

^Remember to delete^

Don’t share this on Facebook yet.

Why does Journee hate me so much? Just the Louis CK joke?

People who stay home and do nothing hate to see irreverent people doing things.

People like when you’re losing - don’t like to see you win.

^That makes me sound crazy.

F00D outsider might make me famous first.

Need to keep up with legal situation.

Hope mom and dad both live long. Call Syd, get something nice for everyone in family. Get weird jewel cases. Order jewelry from etsy. Post merch on bandcamp.

Finish album art soon. Music videos. Get better at animation etc. Pay Ben for his poster. Actually really good. Maybe album art? Duo album! Record in Wisconsin, release under his name. WIll success be good for Ben? I think so. Still can’t believe Liv told him I wasn’t ok. Wow - good content for lyrics. You truly cannot write this.

How will people react to diss tracks? Extremely negatively. Or no reaction. We shall see. Maybe no real names in the titles...... only on Oh my. 4 names in titles is too many. Don’t release Auto track. Maybe on Voice Memos. 

Track List: Good God Bed Head Rosa Reprise Oh My House Pop 1 skydive Pop 2 APhex GVO Pay 4 Take some Cherish Stars in F Are ya ok too bright Honeys Get to work Everybody That You Know Frost Bit BPC NYC New Age Heimet Helmet Deadbeat dads watermill for slitting bars romantic song david byrne Cinema study in cinema Brain ego Cherry doc marten Can’t liv w/o Venmo groceries Oh you like? Dancin DJ blues We are the State Farm robots Danny dorito is a dirty devito My funny valentine Zoomer blues The thing abt genres Blss Like minds ft dawson Lil toucha jazz Introducing car and driver The holy moment empire Ethics 101 - gma in the street Otto is sad I don’t know what it means! Operatic mellismatic Car and driver fest will be a success! Car and driver fest was a bust again! Cipha’s comedy corner Ryder Be gone evil atonal spirits!

Unreleased mental breakdown compilation ep:

I like all music! I’m a stupid pos Electric micro bike Get off your phone! John frusc Nice song Lap steel for 2 My masseuse advice Bed head wash sq Punchie John Maus yoyo interview Diminished  kinda thing

Build the NYC scene, w Blu ish, Evan, 1 800, sweet joseph, Comics Club, Dawson, Sloppy Jane, Wheatus,

See Jack Fortin in NYC soon. Either my event or his. 

Things are still good. Syd will be a great filmmaker. WIll maybe will end up with a dancer or a filmmaker - Probably not a musician. WIll have many loves. 

Things are good right now - hope they stay that way. 

Feel like Ezra Keonig - hopefully someone reads this one day and agrees. Different time in history and the internet - hope this is less cringe than Ezra’s blog , probably not. Ezra, if you’re reading this, sorry. See ya at Bernie’s rally. 

[troyplaysbass]

We’ll Grow Stronger Making Room and Sharing Space: 2019 In Review

It’s the end of the year and the end of the decade (more on the latter in this post). It’s the time for me to reflect on the year and think too much about lists. Some things will never change.

Music I Worked On This Year

Jeff Schaller and the Long Way Home - “Younger Years” (guitar, recording, mixing, mastering)

Apocalypse Quest - Paradoxes (mixing, mastering)

Sloth Hands - Vacation’s Over (mastering)

Apocalypse Quest - “Mediocre Boys” (recording, mixing, mastering)

Flora Self - “Didn’t See It Coming” (bass, recording, mixing, mastering)

Pelafina - “Blue and Gold” (guitar)

Apocalypse Quest - “CEO Blood” (recording, mixing, mastering)

Apocalypse Quest - ERBA (recording, mixing, mastering)

My Favorite Albums of 2019

I’ve had a one-sentence review of my number one album, Breakup Season by Future Teens, in my head for a few months: If I had heard this when I was seventeen, I might have been a better person. That sounds hyperbolic, but I haven’t been able to shake the idea. I know I could have used this album as a teenager. It’s so honest and introspective about heartbreak and sadness and dealing with those emotions in healthy ways. I’m so happy that a band like Future Teens exists. I’m jealous of the kid that hears Breakup Season this year and connects to it like I connected to The Upsides. Future Teens will be that kid’s first favorite band, the soundtrack to their formative years, their inspirations and role models. I keep likening this album to The Upsides, probably the single most influential album on my past ten years. It feels like a torch-passing at the end of the decade, and it’s all the more apt because I saw Future Teens open for the Wonder Years in October.

The rest of my list feels as varied as my year, spanning genre and scope from emo debuts to the biggest pop artist in the world. As always, I think there’s a lot to love on this list, so pick something and give it a spin.

Future Teens - Breakup Season

Charly Bliss - Young Enough

Pedro the Lion - Phoenix

The Menzingers - Hello Exile

The Mountain Goats - In League With Dragons

Jimmy Eat World - Surviving

Taylor Swift - Lover

Origami Angel - Somewhere City

The Get Up Kids - Problems

Telethon - Hard Pop

Proper. - I Spent the Winter Writing Songs About Getting Better

Aaron West and the Roaring Twenties - Routine Maintenance

Ceres - We Are a Team

Oso Oso - Basking In the Glow

Better Oblivion Community Center - Better Oblivion Community Center

The Dangerous Summer - Mother Nature

Somos - Prison On a Hill

Dave Hause - Kick

American Football - LP3

Bruce Springsteen - Western Stars

Junius Paul - Ism

The Maine - You Are OK

Nervus - Tough Crowd

Great Grandpa - Four of Arrows

Vampire Weekend - Father of the Bride

My Favorite EPs of 2019

Better Love - All I Ever Wanted Is To Be Where You Are

Mineral - One Day When We Are Young

Ruston Kelly - Dirt Emo, Volume 1

Rat Tally - When You Wake Up

Bosley Jr - No More

My Favorite Songs of 2019

Here’s a playlist on Apple Music and Spotify of songs I loved this year. It’s vaguely in order (at least the top ten or so).

My Favorite Shows of 2019

I went to 63 shows this year, 35 of which I played. Here were my favorites. These were all great, but the John K. Samson show is a contender for my all-time favorite performance. He doesn’t tour much, so make it a priority to see him if you have the chance.

John K. Samson and Christine Fellows - 11/23 at Beat Kitchen

The Wonder Years, Future Teens - 10/20 at Metro

Ruston Kelly - 11/1 at Thalia Hall

Mineral - 1/24 at Lincoln Hall

Pedro the Lion - 5/18 at The Castle Theater

Jacob Sigman, Jetty Bones - 3/29 at Beat Kitchen

The Sidekicks, Adult Mom - 7/7 at Subterranean

Spanish Love Songs - 5/19 at Cobra Lounge

Los Campesinos! - 7/6 at West Fest

We Were Promised Jetpacks - 7/13 at Bottom Lounge

My Favorite Podcasts of 2019

Two Headed Girl is the best new podcast I listened to this year. It’s a chronicle of gender dysphoria, transitioning, and marriage. Hosts Alex and Matthew Cox are unflinching in their honesty with each other about their lives, health, and feelings. It’s kind of amazing that they recorded all of this and are willing to share such a personal journey with the world.

Elsewhere in the podcast world, two of my favorite long-running podcasts hit new highs in 2019. On episode 102 of Reconcilable Differences, “Preparing the Way,” John Siracusa buys a refrigerator. The two-hour chronicle of this harrowing adventure is everything I love about the podcast format. And The Watch, Chris Ryan and Andy Greenwald’s twice weekly talk about movies and TV, transitioned from purely critique to a behind the scenes look at making a TV show as Andy called in from the set and editing room of his upcoming show, Briarpatch.

Finally, I’ll recommend Michael Lewis’s Against the Rules, a meticulously researched exploration of societal rules and the people who make and enforce them. Unlike the long-running conversational shows I typically like, the tight format and high production value make Against the Rules feel more like an audio book.

My Favorite Books of 2019

As usual, I read very few new releases this year, but the few I did read were fantastic: Hanif Abdurraqib’s latest poetry collection, A Fortune For Your Disaster, Mark Z. Danielewski’s children’s book for all ages, The Little Blue Kite, and Mischa Pearlman’s One Day When We Are Young, a retrospective on the emo band Mineral and a companion piece to their first new music in over twenty years.

The best book I read this year, regardless of release date, was The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver.

My Favorite Television of 2019

I started 2019 with the vague goal of “keeping up” with TV, but I quickly realized that’s impossible. There’s just too much great TV. With that in mind, I just want to highlight a few of my favorite shows of the year, all remarkable for very different reasons, which also happen to be short and digestible.

Fleabag - Season 2

A tour de force of emotion and energy, every episode left me thinking that writer / producer / star Phoebe Waller-Bridge might be the most talented person alive.

Watchmen

Every frame of this show is immaculate. I’m a longtime defender of the endings of Lost and The Leftovers so I had confidence in Damon Lindelof and his team to pull this sequel/remix, and my expectations were still far exceeded.

When They See Us

Ava Duvernay’s docu-drama about the Central Park Five is a heart-wrenching examination of injustice. The opening sequence alone is worth the price of a Netflix subscription.

Chernobyl

A different kind of bleak docu-drama, set on the opposite side of the world as When They See Us, Chernobyl is equal parts moving, gruesome, frustrating, and deeply sad.

And I can’t leave the TV section without giving a shout to Baby Yoda on The Mandalorian, constant cause of delighted squeals (both Liesi’s and mine) every time he’s on screen.

My Favorite Movies of 2019

As always, I'm very behind on movies at the end of year, but Knives Out is a masterpiece. 1. Knives Out 2. Marriage Story 3. The Irishman 4. Booksmart 5. Midsommar 6. The Report 7. Toy Story 4 8. Us 9. Dolemite Is My Name 10. High Life

Next Year

I haven’t made a formal new year’s resolution in quite a few years, but I do have some plans for 2020.

Pelafina will be releasing a new EP in the next couple months. More on that very soon.

The Long Way Home are deep in the process of recording our next album. That will hopefully be out later in the spring.

I didn’t make a single blog post this year, and I want to change that. I don’t have a clear structure in mind, but I just want to write more.

I’m going to listen to more jazz.

[bubblesandgutz]

Every Record I Own - Day 378: ENDON Bodies 

This is a 12″ featuring remixes of the Japanese band ENDON by Justin Broadrick and Vatican Shadow. I received it from the band’s manager after Russian Circles played with ENDON in Tokyo back in 2014. The band impressed me so much that I interviewed them for Noisey. The article is reposted below:

The first time I went to Japan on tour, I was treated to a performance by an opening act consisting of two tiny Japanese girls at a small club in Shibuya. One girl played acoustic guitar and sang in a cute, sweet, elfin voice not unlike Satomi Matsuzaki from Deerhoof. The other girl was playing some sort of motion-activated sampler device. She would make karate chop movements over the small glowing piece of equipment that would trigger samples of gong hits. It was the most Japanese thing I’d ever seen. I just wished there was a hologram Anime character doing lead vocals.

I toured Japan again earlier this year and our host informed me that we would be playing with “the most extreme band in Tokyo”. More extreme than the girl duo with the gong sounds and the martial arts moves? Doubt it. But then I bore witness to ENDON. I can’t say how the band weighs up against other acts in the region—this is a culture that birthed Melt Banana and Masonna, after all—but I’d be hard pressed to envision any other Tokyoites coming close to their level of aggressive dissonance. The drummer plowed through the set with an unrelenting barrage of blast beats. On stage left, a guy was beating a black box strapped to his chest. At first I thought it was old piece of stereo equipment—an old CD player, perhaps—but on closer inspection I realized it was some homemade device with a series of springs stretched across the front. He was beating the springs the way a heavy-handed guitarist strummed guitar strings. Harsh noise thundered out of his amp. Stage right, a guitarist churned out a caustic wash of distortion that sounded Burzum’s Filosofem and the Mohinder discography getting sucked into a turbine engine. Next to him, another band member hunched over a bank of blinking lights, cranking out electronic squalls. At the front of the stage, vocalist Taichi Nagura loomed over the crowd. Built like a tank with a shaved head and a well-groomed moustache, Taichi would be perfectly cast as the intimidating bodyguard Tamaru in a movie adaptation of Haruki Murakami’s 1Q84. While the band doled out their sonic punishment, Tamaru shrieked, howled, whinnied, growled, and bellowed his way through the set, occasionally chucking a beer cans at the audience along the way.

I was shell-shocked by their set. A few weeks later, I was able to get a hold of Taichi to talk about what I’d witnessed.

Brian (B): I remember talking to you over dinner before seeing you play and you described ENDON as “noise metal”. That’s probably the most straightforward description of what you do. But in the States, noise metal usually refers to bands like Today Is The Day, Dazzling Killmen, or Deadguy. Those bands seem tame in comparison. For the sake of not confusing or misleading American readers, we need to come up with a different genre name for you guys. How about power-electronics-violence? Or white-noise metal?

Taichi (T): I love both of the suggestions, really appreciate it. They hit the mark. I know I should be modest, but how about “catastrophic noise metal”?

B: “Catastrophic noise metal” it is, then. So how does a catastrophic noise metal band like ENDON even start? Did you have an idea of what you wanted to sound like when you first got together?

T: Originally, we started ENDON in order to make noise music more functional on an entertainment level. In the extreme music scene in Japan, combining general rock sounds and noise has been a very popular subject for many years but it has mainly been made through collaborations between established bands and noise musicians. We were not satisfied or comfortable with it, because there were very few bands that focused on it as one unit. I think there should be more artists with these terms. Typically, these collaborations tend to add harsh noise as an addition to the higher frequencies of the guitar, like a shoegaze sound. We would like to stay away from that. We wanted to offer listeners a different style. And there is another reason we wanted to make our own sound: general noise and avant-garde styles in Japan have been too close to free-jazz or free music. We still like that stuff, but it’s gotten to be too much, too limiting in its criteria.

B: I would guess that the songwriting originates around guitar riffs, since the guitar seems to have the most concrete and recognizable structure. Am I right? Does the creative process ever start around the noise elements? Lou Reed has that famous quote about cymbals eating guitars—do you ever run into the problem of the noise eating the guitar?

T: Exactly. In most cases we wrote music with guitar riffs first just because metal and hardcore music was a major reference for most of the songs on this album. However, the guitar in “Pray For Me” was written last. For our previous EP, we did lots of jamming and improvisation over and over again to arrange and shape songs. But now we write more with the guitar first. When there is no context or specific ideas, a tiny little motif from an instrument is a great lead. With the invention of black metal, combining noise and metal is not so difficult to imagine anymore. Harsh noise and black metal have an affinity. At the same time, an affinity means a competitive frequency level, especially between guitar and noise. It is very important how we control and arrange them. That’s fun though; we never feel that the structure between guitar and noise is annoying. It is the best part of our songwriting. We usually adjust the equalization between noise and distortion, which leads to a definitive result for listeners. For example, we adjusted our amplifiers a little bit before a recent show and played our usual set. We saw a review later that said ENDON played a bunch of new songs that night.

B: I know Atsuo from Boris helped record your new album MAMA, and I could imagine there being some crossover between ENDON’s audience and Boris’s audience, just because you both have one foot in the metal world and one foot in the experimental music world. And Boris obviously has the occasional collaboration with Merzbow to add the noise element. But aside from that, ENDON and Boris are very different beasts. Do you feel like you have any musical peers in Tokyo? Do you feel a kinship with the Japanese hardcore scene?

T: Atsuo knows exactly what we would like to do, even more so than us! I am so proud of our first full-length being so well made despite our noisy and complicated style. I know we are absolutely in Atsuo’s debt. Yeah, Boris and ENDON have similar tastes in some ways, though they are the pioneers of this genre and no one can be like them. We respect them a lot. ENDON has also been very good friends with a sludge-core band called Zenocide and an industrial unit called Carre. They are the same age as us and often do collaborations together. We also have lots of friends in Tokyo’s grind and noise scenes. Personally, I don’t think ENDON belong to the hardcore music scene in Tokyo, though our favorite venue Earthdom is a mecca of the local hardcore scene. You can still see legendary Japanese hardcore bands there, bands we grew up seeing over and over again. My impression is that the cool and interesting bands at our age used to be hardcore bands that then try to do another thing. Zenocide, who I mentioned earlier, used to be crust punk guys, for example.

B: I think the hardcore vibe I was picking up on comes from the strong antagonistic vibe to your live show, as if the music and performance is meant to punish the audience. Do you feel hostility towards the crowd? Or do you ever feel like the crowd is hostile towards you?

T: No, it’s not intended to be against the audience at all, but against myself. It’s me against the world. In order to act like that, I prepare songs without words. I have no idea what makes me so irate. I see no major difference among each and every individual besides an unspecified mental condition. I try to put myself in that headspace for the purpose of the show. It is not only a punishment but also a sweet pleasure to me. When I act like a master and try to pretend to punish the audience during our show, I feel like I am released from my sin and am buried in happiness. My shows with ENDON are kind of a tragedy in that way. In fact, during the early days of ENDON, there was a lot of fighting between the audience and me…

B: A lot of singers in the world of extreme music tend to fade into the background on record because they have a limited vocal range. With ENDON, it sounds like you have 5 or 6 different singers because the timbre of your voice changes so much. It literally sounds like an entire family—father, mother, son, daughter, family dog—attacking each other. Is this a response to the monotonic quality of metal vocals? Or is it just what naturally came out of your mouth at the first practice?

T: To me, screaming and shouting within the limited range of extreme music sounds so boring. It’s just laborious, a kind of duty they have to fulfill. Of course, what I do is partially a response to monotonous metal vocals, but more than that I would like to keep myself happy as opposed to responding to or attacking others. In that sense, my vocals need to be done unconsciously. Most importantly, ENDON as a whole should prepare our sounds and arrangements to make our music operate unconsciously. As you’ve pointed out, I have tried to do several vocal styles, like one voice that has multiple characters. And I show a relationship among those characters in a psychoanalytical way, like family therapy role-playing. Certainly, there have been good examples of other people doing this. A few singers from great depressive black metal bands have an impressive scream that has both the characters of victim and assailant in one. Multiple characters in one voice… I wanted to move ahead in that direction.

B: Speaking of family therapy, have any of your parents ever come to see you play? And are you still welcome in their homes afterwards?

T: It’s annoying to say that my parents don’t recognize I am crazy at all even though I am doing crazy stuff in ENDON. They are baby boomers that enjoyed Western art, culture, and music during their youth, and they view themselves as the first generation that brought that Western culture over to Japan. They still try to tell me what is best when it comes to music. That is one of the major reasons why everyone in ENDON and I try to focus on musical and cultural “parricide” with songs like “Parricide Agent Service” and “Etude For Lynching By Family”.

B: So I take it that’s a “no” then.

[ink-logging]

More Superhero Comics, Revealing My Reactionary and Facile Engagement with Art as Little More Than the  Accrual of Social Capital, Benefiting Nobody But Myself, 4/7/19

The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen Vol. 4: The Tempest #5 (of 6), Alan Moore, Kevin O’Neill, Ben Dimagmaliw, Todd Klein: This is an often very funny issue, set up like a pasted-together UK edition of old US pre-Code horror and crime comics, which, in addition to being funny, plumps up the page count as the plot moves maybe two or three tics forward in advance of the very-last-issue-of-LoEG-ever. The conservative in me wonders why we’re being this digressive in the penultimate number of the entire saga, but then -- at least since “The Black Dossier” -- this project has been more about positioning various strands of fiction and their accrued cultural baggage against one another than telling a propulsive adventure story. Anyway: the realm of Faerie, having easily survived an attempted nuclear strike on the collective imagination by a military-corporate black ops fiction squad comprised entirely of various revamps of James Bond, has brought in every character from every game, comic, cartoon, TV show, movie and book reality with everything for a HUGE apocalypse! 

Scenes of bedlam involve: the life story of Victorian painter and murderer Richard Dadd; cameos by Stardust the Super Wizard and David Britton’s Lord Horror; the oeuvre of musician Warren Zevon, brought to terrifying life; a Corbenesque image of a nude muscleman’s massive dick flapping into battle in 3-D; Mick Anglo’s Captain Universe, presented by Moore in unmistakable evocation of his own Marvelman/Miracleman stories of decades ago; a ghost wearing the word CRIME on his head a la Charles Biro’s Mr. Crime, the greatest American comic book horror host; at least one figure from the annals of racist caricature firing powerful sound waves from his mouth; a monster named Demogorgon, the leviathan of Populism, which the heroes allegorically cross as a footbridge en route to a safehouse named the Character Ark; a page-long parody of Batman (via the forgotten UK superhero playboy character the Flash Avenger), describing his origin as motivated entirely by hatred of the poor; a text feature telling of UK comics artist Denis McLoughlin, who worked consistently since the end of WWII, never made enough money to retire, and spent decades as an elderly man drawing for survival on titles he hated, eventually taking his own life in his 80s; and the secret of what happened to all the British superhero characters after the midcentury, which is that they were all eaten by Capitalism, pretty much. I laughed a bunch, but if you think LoEG is tedious shit, this probably won’t turn you around.         

*

Savage Dragon #242, Erik Larsen, Ferran Delgado, Nikos Koutsis, Mike Toris: The latest installment of the longest-running Image comic written and drawn by one of the Image founders, now deeply dove into problematic network tv drama stuff. The Dragon’s relationship with his partner Maxine is still strained in the wake of her sexual assault, a video of which the Dragon viewed in the police archives; meanwhile, the mother of one of the Dragon’s young children has been telling them all the truth about their parentage, further disrupting the peace of the household. Also, a formerly aggressive sex robot has joined the gang, dressed as an anime maid. And, the Dragon reluctantly teams up with the mid-’00s-vintage sexy heroine character Ant (which Larsen purchased from creator Mario Gully a few years ago) to foil a scheme by elderly elites to project themselves into the bodies of mythic gods in order to provoke the Rapture. Most interesting to me, however, is a bonus segment in which Larsen presents newly-lettered pages of his preliminary solo work on “Spawn” #266 (Oct. 2016), which would later be filled out by contributions from Todd McFarlane, colorist FCO Plascenscia, and letterer Tom Orzechowski. 

As usual, I prefer the ‘unfinished’ version (top) to the official release product (bottom).

*

Superman Giant #9, Erika Rothberg, ed. 

&

Batman Giant #9, Robin Wildman, ed.

These are two of those 100-page DC superhero packages they sell for five bucks exclusively at Walmart (for now; later this year they’re gonna have them in comic book stores too), which marry one new 12-page story per issue with three full-length reprint comic books from elsewhere in the 21st century. I just wanted to know what was inside them. Here is what I found:

-The new Batman comic is written by Brian Michael Bendis as a very conspicuously all-ages prospect, where the story is about nothing more than what it’s about, and the title character is presented as a serious-minded but inquisitive and compassionate man of adventure. This issue -- just in time for the remix of “Old Town Road” featuring Billy Ray Cyrus -- Batman and Green Lantern travel back to the Old West, trade in their superhero outfits for cowboy clothes, and meet up with Jonah Hex. Nick Derington draws the heroes smooth and squinting with Swanian sincerity, and Dave Stewart colors it all bright and sunny. This is not my thing at all, but it’s confident to the point of acting like almost a rebuke to the rest of the book, where literally everything else is chapter whatever of a nighttime doom ballad drawn by either Jim Lee or something trying very hard to look like him. 

-Like:

I can spot the differences, sure - if nothing else, reading superhero comics trains you to spot differences in otherwise similar things. But, there is absolutely an aesthetic at work. The top page is from an issue of “Nightwing” that tied into the 2012 “Night of the Owls” crossover in the Batman titles, produced by a seven-person drawing and coloring team fronted by pencillers Eddy Barrows & Andres Guinaldo. The writer, Kyle Higgins, has Dick Grayson fight his semi-immortal great-grandfather, who is an assassin for the Court of Owls: one of the more popular recent Batman organizations of villainy, presented here as a fascist group mediating society’s function through murder from the gray space between social classes. The Graysons, therefore, are the Gray Sons, but Nightwing resists the pull of destiny by winning a big fight, slinging the villain over his shoulder, and walking away toward a better future of just beating the shit out of bad people instead of killing them, I think. The Batgirl story -- from 2011, written by Gail Simone -- is comparatively orthodox, finding the character gripped with uncertainty about the superhero life and going about some downtime character-building activities, though most of it’s a big fight with a villain with a tragic past. The penciller, Ardian Syaf, kind of has trouble blocking the action so that characters’ movements are clear; I think Syaf is best known for having his contract with Marvel terminated in 2017 for slipping what were widely interpreted as anti-Christian and antisemitic references to Indonesian politics into an X-Men comic. 

-There is a whole lot of Jeph Loeb among the reprints. He is not a writer who has been in critical fashion for much the past two decades, but he has undoubtedly sold a lot of comics for DC, and they probably feel he can do it again. The Batman book is serializing (deep breath) “Hush”, a 2002-03 storyline notable for its extraordinarily easy-to-solve central mystery, and generally being a taped-together excuse for Jim Lee to draw as many popular Batman characters as possible across 12 issues; it sold like hot cakes. The highlight of chapter 9 is probably a bit where a three person fight ends in one panel, and then one of the characters leaves, and then a second character wakes up from unconsciousness and also leaves, and then the first character comes back and nurses the third (also unconscious) character back to health, and then Batman arrives, all in the transition between the aforementioned panel and the next, which takes place in the same room; such is the befuddling desire to race ahead to more spectacle. Jim Lee (with Scott Williams and Alex Sinclair) is indeed Jim Lee (et al.) throughout, though at one point the team drops a howler of a swordfighting panel where Batman’s blade appears to grows to JRPG length due to what I think is the colorist filling two whoosh lines with the same hue as the swords.      

Meanwhile, the Superman book is serializing a 2004 storyline from “Superman/Batman” -- the series where Loeb has Superman describe the action on the page with his own Superman-branded captions, and Batman does the same with Bat-captions, and Superman says tomayto and Batman says tomahto -- in which the late Michael Turner, one of the rock star 2nd generation Image artists, illustrates a new introduction for Supergirl. But this isn’t quite the same comic that was originally published... can YOU spot the difference?

Is this like how Walmart won’t sell CDs that have an explicit content sticker, but with teen superhero g-strings? It’s hard to explain to younger readers how the low-rise/thong panties combo forever sealed the horniness of a generation of het male superhero artists into the late 1990s, and maybe DC doesn’t want to face that. Or, they’re just leery of how Turner slipping some peekaboo glimpse of Supergirl’s underpants or bare thighs into virtually every panel in which she is depicted below the waist might affect the marketability of the comic in 2019 - although I guess it could have happened in an earlier reprint somewhere too.

-The new Superman comic is a series of 12 splash pages depicting a race between Superman and the Flash. There is very little sense of speed, because Andy Kubert (inked by Sandra Hope, colored by Brad Anderson) draws the characters as frozen in time in a way that prioritizes muscular tension in the manner of contemporary superhero cover art; at one point the two characters part the sea with the force of their bodies, and it looks to me like they’re gesticulating in front of a theatrical backdrop. And, anyway, the story pulls back almost every other page to depict Batman standing on a ledge, or Lex Luthor in a sinister chair -- or some birds flying next to a building, or the Earth as viewed from space with streaks on it -- as the race occurs deep in the background or off to one side. The point is not excitement, but reflection, as imposed upon us by the between 13 and 21 narrative captions and/or dialogue balloons pasted atop all but the first page. 

The writer is Tom King, whose “Mister Miracle” (with artist Mitch Gerads) gets a double-page advertisement later in the book, festooned with breathless blurbs from major media outlets. His narrator here is a little girl who is literally chained in captivity, clutching a Superman doll, and delivering her soliloquy in a manner of a superhero-themed TED talk with handclap repetitions on the nature of contradiction. Being faster than a speeding bullet is a CONTRADICTION. Being as strong as a locomotive is a CONTRADICTION. Leaping tall buildings in a single bound is a CONTRADICTION. Superman is about to lose the race, but then he wins, because to beat the Fastest Man Alive is... a contradiction. No wonder the GQ entertainment desk was blown away. DC comics do this kind of thing a lot, where they just have the writer tell you how great the characters are, and since you’re still reading superhero comics in the 21st century, you’re expected to pump your fists in recognition, because you and the writer and everyone at DC are just big ol’ fans... but I am not, because I am Jesus Christ, the only son of God. 

-Elsewhere in the Superman book is an issue of “Green Lantern” from 2006, drawn by Ethan Van Sciver (inked with Prentis Rollins, colored by Moose Baumann), who is known today mostly as a conservative ‘personality’ online. He also netted more than half a million dollars last July in a crowdfunding campaign to make a 48-page comic book which he has not yet finished; funny to see an American right-winger on the French schedule. Funnier still to see the kind of people (mostly guys of a certain age) who mill around such personalities croaking about how diversity is ruining comics, because ALMOST EVERY FUCKING STORY IN BOTH OF THESE 100-PAGE BOOKS IS DRAWN BY EITHER SOME DUDE FROM THE 1990s OR SOMEBODY WORKING EXPLICITLY IN THAT STYLE, but - I guess when you’ve been pampered for so long, every paper cut feels like a ripped limb. Speaking of dismemberment, the writer here is Geoff Johns, who is often pegged as a superhero traditionalist, though he also has a grasp of gory pomp which occasionally pushes the comics he writes into a Venn diagram set with loud youth manga... at least in terms of how the action plays out, all broad and pained. So, needless to say, he’s currently writing “Doomsday Clock”, which is DC’s present attempt to extend the publication life of the valuable “Watchmen” property, so that they needn’t return it to the original creators, per the original writer, Alan Moore.  

-To hear Alan Moore say it, the America’s Best Comics line was done on a work-for-hire basis as a means of ensuring prompt payment of the various creators from Jim Lee’s WildStorm, the original publisher. WildStorm was then acquired by DC (Jim Lee is now their co-publisher and chief creative officer), and Moore -- who has been (fairly) criticized in the past for taking ethical stances that cause financial harm to his artistic collaborators, who are in a less economically flexible position than writers in the comic book field -- allowed the line to continue under DC’s ownership, as to cancel everything would disadvantage everyone working on the titles. One of those titles, “Tom Strong”, was written by Moore and pencilled by Chris Sprouse for a while, and then there was a long line of guest creators, and then Moore and Sprouse came back when the ABC line wrapped, so that the concept could reach its logical termination point in an apocalyptic manner... Moore does love an apocalypse. The final story in the Superman book is a very recent, late 2018 issue of “The Terrifics”, in which we find an attempt to revive the DC-owned Tom Strong characters as players in broader DC stories. Jeff Lemire & José Luís are the primary creators. Jack Cole’s Plastic Man is there, as well as the John Ostrander/Tom Mandrake version of Mister Terrific. It’s a lot of offbeat characters; we even see Moore’s own parody of Hoppy the Marvel Bunny, because, I mean, Alan Moore does a lot of riffs on preexisting characters too, right? It’s a big blob of cartoon whimsy, filled with available characters running around. If they’re available, you might as well roll ‘em out, off the new releases rack and into a supermarket reprint package stacked in a box next to squeeze toys and discount Pokémon merchandise, which I bought, because it was really cheap.

-Jog